And what is a left libertarian? How do the two coalesce into a ‘Libertarian Party’ in other countries?
They do not care about other people, only themselves. They despise things like social programs.
is it the idea that you should only ever care about yourself and fuck everyone else? cuz that seems like priority #1 for united states conservatives
Libertarianism is inherently conservative and right. There is no such thing as a leftist libertarian. The closest you can get is a purely socially left one.
That’s not true. Some of the original libertarians were socialists. I had a libertarian phase once upon a time. One thing that was very apparent was that nobody could agree on what libertarianism meant. The only thing they seemed to agree on was that the government should be smaller. The maga movement has adopted the libertarian label for some reason. Despite the government, especially the authoritarian elements being expanded. In the current climate, anybody that proudly claims to be libertarian is either pretending the meaning hasn’t changed, or is a maga idiot. Even Penn Jillette, one of the most outspoken libertarians, has since shed the label.
Libertarianism is the opposite of authoritarianism, that is all it is. Just as left is the opposite of right, or progressive vs conservative.
A far left libertarian is an anarchist, a far right libertarian is a libertarian capitalist.
Right-libertarian is where you are getting the stereotype of libertarians, like the Tea Party.
The political compass does more damage than it helps, ultimately. Left vs right is usually about collectivization of some form vs private ownership, but things get weird when you get to “libertarian vs authoritarian.” Neither of those really mean anything when the size of the state is related to the class character of society, the size of state isn’t really something people pick so much as it is something that is shaped by the mode of production.
Differences among the left and right are far more nuanced and can’t be distilled into “libertarian” vs “authoritarian.”
I’d say the far left libertarian is anarcho-communist (the true voluntary communism) and far right is anarcho-capitalist.
I’m not an expert (or libertarian), but my understanding is that a libertarian is basically interested in small government/low government oversight. That platform is a little on both ends of the US political spectrum. They would support more right leaning initiatives like low taxation, free market capitalism, deregulation, but also possibly some left leaning initiatives like legalized marijuana, and generally be against regulation on abortions, gender affirming care, etc.
That’s just in theory. Many people use the term when they don’t fully embody it’s values. I have heard people self identify as libertarian while basically being far right (to be fair, 2016 trump did appeal to anti-establishment voters which includes libertarians). It can also be used incorrectly to mean “right wing voter who doesn’t like trump so doesn’t want to be called Republican/fascist but still supports many conservative ideologies”.
I don’t have much insight into other country libertarian parties, other than I believe it is considered fairly centrist in most cases.
Libertarians are an odd bunch these days. They claim to be against “big government” but they want to privatize everything which would essentially make giant corporations into a new authoritarian government.
The love to talk about being able to take your business elsewhere if you don’t like the service your getting, but that doesn’t do a lot of good if your house burns down because you were behind on your fire protection plan and no one will come to put it out.
It’s basically become an entire party that believes the idea that “survival of the
fittestwealthiest” should be the only lawYeah, the whole “taking your business elsewhere” is bullshit in the modern world. It might work in a town without internet that has 3 barbers; sure, you take your little protest purchase to another barber maybe it has an impact.
But I’ve lived in a neighborhood for 6 years where my internet connectivity choices have been Comcast, or DSL. That’s not a choice. When the only competitor is equivalent to no service, it’s not competition; it’s a monopoly.
The left supports collectivization of production, the right supports private ownership of production.
More libertarian left tendencies often want the means collectivised in the hands of localised workers, rather than the collective org being a national-scale bureaucracy.
I’m aware that the anarchist-adjacent left wants more cooperative, decentralized production than large scale, planned production, but as juxtaposed with right libertarians, who want private property and at most a nightwatchman state, the difference is still in how ownership is spread. I don’t agree with any libertarians, but it’s a pretty fair appraisal.
The term confuses me in politics: it seems to have too many meanings; and even the agreed definitions are flexible.
Almost every major political label is overloaded like that. Liberal, conservative, they can mean so many things they mean almost nothing. They are nearly meaningless.
They are suspiciously knowledgeable about age-of-consent laws.
I just rewatched an old video of Joel Haver’s where jokers a groomer
name a state, Batman. Any state.
uh, Mississippi
16 with parental consent. Mmm!
It’s contextual: government can be used for right-wing or left-wing purposes, and people opposed to those uses can use libertarianism as a justification whether the actual policies they’re opposing are right- or left-wing. But that means people with right- or left-wing sympathies can selectively target policies they disagree with on purely sectarian grounds, while disingenuously claiming libertarianism as a motivation.
When I was young and in college I thought I was a Libertarian because it wasn’t big government, and that libertarians were in favor of legalizing weed and gay marriage, basically letting people do what they want without the government regulating it. At the time around 2008ish, the Libertarian party really was leaning hard into that part, while leaving out the whole wanting to privatize everything. I had to get a bit older and more mature to realize that libertarians want to make every tax payer funded program function more like our fucked up healthcare system. Libertarians think that the fire department should be an opt in subscription service like it was in the 1800s. Fucking dipshits the lot of them.
The right to be fucking stupid and do without or to do it yourself shouldn’t be denied. It’s why I self host stuff. I also have the right to be fucking stupid and not backup any of my systems, but I do my backups myself. Though if I was in a position to have a better fire control situation than my local solution, you damn right I wouldn’t want to pay for the inferior service. The same goes for any other utility or public service.
The whole idea of libertarianism is to take the power away from government and abolish it so that the people can be left the fuck alone. The government is just another monopoly in my view especially in the area of currency and violence.
You’re just creating more monopolies, with no oversight and less control. At least with government, you can vote.
I’m firmly of the opinion that government regulations create monopolies. Before all the car safety and fuel efficiency regulations there were many car manufacturers in the US. Then as more regulations were added over time, we were down to just 3 manufacturers and they all made shitboxes in the 80s and 90s that didn’t last and nobody liked and gave rise to foreign manufacturers coming in and eating the big 3’s lunch.
My point is that the big 3 were the only ones that could afford those regulations and were also the ones to lobby the government to pass those regulations to drive their competitors out or force mergers. Advancements in safety and fuel efficiency would have happened anyway. This is the case where advertising can be actually helpful by showing off their products advancement in safety and efficiency to drive their sales. Volvo giving away their patent for seatbelts is another example of a way way to get goodwill and generate sales from that goodwill while keeping competition healthy.
With no government, there would be no need to vote. I’m sick and tired of every election being tHe MosT iMPorTaNt eLecTiOn oF OuR liFeTiME. I’d be fine with the absolute bare minimum of government if it meant the people we elect would not have the power to abuse in the first place.
So it sounds like you would rather trust companies to put the health and safety of its consumers over the government forcing it?
It’s really a matter of trusting companies to put the health and safety of consumers over shot term profits for shareholders, without government forcing them to. Which we all know rarely happens.
No, I trust in the collective wisdom of the masses to generally make the best decisions.
Remember when Elon claimed to be a libertarian before literally joining the establishment Republicans? Libertarianism isn’t real. “Libertarians” bend the knee to conservatives and fascists so quickly it doesn’t matter what the ideology supposedly says.
And what is a left libertarian?
Libertarian socialist
Libertarians are right wing primarily because they align themselves with them rhetorically. They could be anywhere from closeted Nazi who sees the ability to oppress minorities as “freedom” to people who would otherwise be libertarian socialists if not for buying in to propaganda demonizing left-wing ideas. Feel free to ask more.
A right libertarian believes that the best government is the smallest and most local, and that the government cannot and should not regulate sex, drugs, guns, or businesses.
A left libertarian believes that the best government is one that regulates the economy, protects the public commons, and safeguards the rights of minority groups but otherwise leaves people alone to do as they will.
I’m much more familiar with the former, so if I’ve erred in describing the latter someone please correct me.
The private ownership of production is what makes them right-wing.
Left-libertarianism would be anarchism I guess but I’d never call and anarchist left-libertarian
the whole libertarian/authoritarian axis doesn’t really describe things well because it’s a caricature. On the left Marxists and anarchists have similar end goals, the abolishing of class society, but a diversity of strategy as to how to get there. On the right, they are united in reaction and to the extent that any are “libertarian” it’s purely out of self interest.
Yeah, “libertarian” in common parlance in America is just another word for “selfish asshole”. At least anarchists want everyone to be in it together. “Libertarians” just want it all for themselves and fuck everyone else. John Galt worshipping assholes the lot of them.
Boot licking for billionaires without understanding what they are doing
